Well-drilling appliance.



TINTTED STATES Patented January 3, 1905.

PATENT OEEIcE.

JOHN H. COMPTON, OF MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS.

WELL-DRILLING APPLIANCEK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 778,951, dated January3, 1905. Application filed April 15, 1904. Serial No. 203,240.

To wl whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. COMPTON, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Malden, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements inWell-Drilling Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the art of drilling oil, gas, and Artesian wellsand the like, and is intended to provide an appliance for this purposewhich will not only serve as a drilling-stem, but will also containwithin itself structural elements and arrangements whereby it may beused for jarring purposes in case the bit or spud becomes stuck, thusavoiding the necessity for employing auxiliary tools for jarring, as hasbeen the practice heretofore. To this end I provide a drilling-stemcomposed of two main parts movable longitudinally with respect to eachother and formed with opposed shoulders Vor `abutments which arenormally held in engagement by means of one or more springs. One of theparts of the stem is adapted to carry a bit, spud, or otherdrilling-tool at its lower end, and the other part is adapted forattachment to the cable commonly used for operating drilling-stems or tothe jointed rods such as are sometimes employed in the place of such acable, and the construction and arrangement is such that in the normaloperation of drilling thestem rises and falls and delivers its blow asone piece, while in case the bit or spud becomes stuck the tension ofthe cable on its upward movement causes a relative longitudinal movementof the parts of the stem, which is followed by the engagement of theshoulders above referred to and the production of the jarring effect forreleasing the bit or spud. My preferred construction provides forjarring either upward or downward and not only makes it unnecessary toemploy separate jars, but also lessens the resistance which has to beovercome in jarring a bound bit loose, and in addition has certain otheradvantages which will hereinafter appear.

A drilling appliance embodying my invention in its preferred form isillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figures l, 2, 3,'and4, taken collectively,

show the complete appliance, the outer member being represented, mainly,in central longitudinal section and the inner member in side elevation.By reason of the length of the appliance it is represented in sectionsin' these iigures, and it is to be understood that the upper end of Fig.2 is a continuation of the lower end of Fig. 1, the upper end of Fig. 3is a continuation of the lower end of Fig. 2, and the upper end of Fig.4 is a continuation of the lower end of Fig. 3, the upper end of Fig. 1and the lower end of Fig. L showing, respectively, the upper and lowerends of the complete appliance. Fig. 5 is aside elevation showing theinterior of a portion of the outer member of the appliance near itsupper end,- and Fig. 6 is a view similar to a portion of Fig. 2, butshowing the parts in a different relative position. Figs. 7 8, 9, 10,and l1 are cross-sections taken, respectively, on the lines a a. b b, cc, ci d, and e e. Fig. l2 is a side elevation of a portion of the innermember of the appliance shown at right angles with respect to itsposition in the other figures of the drawings.

The two main portions or members of my appliance are represented by thenumerals 2 and 3 in the drawings, and one of these members, as 2,preferably contains the other member, as shown. Theinner member 3iscapable of a longitudinal sliding' movement within the member 2, andsaid members are provided, respectively, with shoulders which by theirengagement limit such sliding movement. By preference I provide aplurality of such shoulders in order to distribute the shock occasionedby drilling and jarring. The inwardly-extending shoulders on the outermember 2 are shown at 4 and 5 and are preferably annular, the walls ofthe outer member 2 being made of greater thickness beneath saidshoulders than elsewhere, as shown in Fig. 9, so that they are betteradapted to withstand the strains and shocks to which they are exposed.The outwardly-extending shoulders on the inner member 3 are representedat 6 and 7 and are also annular, being formed by providing the innermember 3 with enlarged portions 8, which are fitted to slide within theouter member in the spaces between the pairs of shoulders 4c, and

5, and those portions of the inner membery which are located between theenlargements 8 are of such size as to slide within the thickenedportions of the walls of the outer member. As thus constructed itwillb`e observed that upward movements of the inner member within theouter member will be limited by the engagement of the shoulders 6 withthe shoulders 5 and that downward movements of the inner member will belimited by the engagement of the shoulders 7 and 4, these parts being soconstructed that the engagement of all the shoulders at the limit ofmovement in either direction is simultaneous and the extent of movementbeing determined ,by the difference in length between the enlargedportionsSand the distance between the shoulders 4 and 5, between lwhichthey slide. The two members 2 and 3 are normally held in contractedposition, or, in other words, with each shoulder in engagement with theopposed shoulder 6 by means of one or more springs 9, and preferablyseveral such springs are employed.4

These springs each bear at one end on one of the enlarged portions 8 andat the other end on one of the inwardly extending ledges formed on theinterior of the shell and are of such strength or are normallycompressed to such an extent that they will support the weight of themember which they carry, with the bit attached, when the other member issuspended vertically and will thus keep the shoulders 5 and 6 in normalengagement, as above stated.

In order to provide for the assembling of the parts, the inner member 3is preferably composed of a number of similar sections joined end toend, five sections being shown in the drawings. rIhe outer member '2, onthe other hand, is made continuous throughout its length, but is dividedlengthwise into twosemicylindrical parts or halves, which may be.separated to permit the insertion of theinternal parts. The exterior ofthe appliance thus forms a cylindrical shell of uniform diameterthroughout its length. The two halves of the outer member or shell maybe secured together by any suitable means, such asa number of metalstrips 10, dovetailed into corresponding recesses 1l, cut in theexterior of the shell 2, and extending across the meeting edges ses ofthe two halves of the shell, being secured at their ends to said halves,respectively, as shown.

12 12 represent dowel-pins set into the meeting walls of the two halvesof the shell at a suitable number of points in order to strengthen theconnection and prevent any sliding or longitudinal play of the parts.The two halves of the shell are accurately fitted together at theirmeeting edges, so as to provide a tight closure for the inner member 3and the other contained parts. At its upper end each half of the 4outermember is made solid for a short portion of its length, and said membertermi- 'nates in a pin 13, adapted for attachment to the usualsubstitute 14, to which the ropesocket is secured in use, as usual. endsof said solid portions form an abutment adapted to engage the upper endof the inner member simultaneously with the engagement of the pairs ofshoulders 5 and 6, as shown in Fig. 1, and the substitute 14 serves alsoto reinforce the metal strips 10, which hold these solid portionstogether.

The uppermost section of the inner member 3 is provided at its upper endwith one of the enlarged 'portions 8 above described and terminates atits lower end in a similar enlargement, in which is formed a socket 15for the reception of a pin 16, formed on the upper end ofthe nextsection of the inner member, this pin and socket being threaded andscrewed together. One of the springs 9 surrounds the upper portion ofthis section, and the construction at-the lower end of this section isthe same as the construction of the first section. The third, fourth,and fifth sections are constructed precisely like the second section,except that the fifth or lowermost section extends through the lower endof the shell and carries at its lower end a core-head 17, provided withthe usual socket. 18 to receive the bit or spud andhaving substantiallythe same external diameter as the shell or outer member 2, thusproviding a pair of shoulders adapted to abut at the lower end of saidouter section simultaneously with the engagement of the shoulders 5 and6. In order to prevent the unscrewing of the parts by the accidentalturning of the sections of the inner member with respect to each other,I prefer to provide each of said sections witha pair ofoppositely-disposed ribs 19, fitted to slide in corresponding grooves20, formed in the thickened walls of the outer member, as shown in Figs.7 and 1l.

It will be observed that since the space between the inner and outermembers and between the shoulders 4 and 7 in Fig. 2, for example, formspractically a closed chamber any relative movement of the inner andouter members from the position shown in said figure would tend tocompress the air in said space, and in order to distribute and equalizesuch variations in air-pressure as may be thus produced I prefer to formin each of the enlarged portions 8 of the inner member a spiral groove21, running from end to end of the circumference thereof, wherebycommunication between the inclosed spaces within the shell is afforded.Near the upper end of the device I provide also a screw-plug 22, whichnormally closes an opening 23, leading into the interior of the shell,so that by removing said plug oil can be introduced into the interior ofthe device for lubricating purposes, its flow from one end of the deviceto the other being provided for by the spiral grooves 21.

As thus constructed the operation of my The lower IOO device is asfollows: In the ordinary operation of drilling the outer member or shell2 is oscillated vertically by the cable, temperscrew, and walking-beamor other appliances commonly employed for this purpose, and as the innermember 3 is normally held by the springs 9 at the upward limit of itsmovement with respect to the shell 2 the entire stem rises and falls asone solid piece and delivers a blow as suoli, the shock of the blowbeing taken up by the engaging shoulders 5 and 6 collectively, so far asthe parts 2 and 3 are concerned. In case a bit becomes stuck, however,the upward movement of the cable will evidently raise the outer member 2only, compressing the springs 9, the inner member being held immovablebythe stuck bit. The result is that the outer member is lifted until theshoulders 4 strike the reciprocal `shoulders 7, and thus produce anupward jar, the force of the blow thus delivered being determined by thetension' on the cable and the speed of the evolutions of thewalking-beam or kindred appliance. If it be desired to effect a downwardjar, the strain on the cable is lessened by means of the temper-screw orkindred appliance to such an extent that the maximum lift applied by thecable to the outer member 2 cannot sufliciently compress the springs 9to permit the shoulders 4 and 7 to engage each other, with the resultthat the downward movement of the outer member induced by its own weightand by the pressure of the springs 9 will cause the shoulders 5 tostrike violently against the shoulders 6, and thus produce the desireddownward blow. It will be understood that the engaging surfaces on theinner and outer members, at the upper end of the former and the lowerend of the latter, operate simultaneously with and in the same manner asthe pairs of shoulders 5 and 6 in drilling and in jarring downward. Alight or heavy blow may be delivered rapidly or slowly by shortening orlengthening the cable or by taking up or letting out the temper-screwand regulating the speed of the vertical oscillations.

It will be observed that when my appliance is used in jarring it is onlythe weight and inertia of the inner member plus that of the bit or spudattached and the binding resistance which has to be overcome and thatthe momentum of the heavy outer member and connected parts is availablefor overcoming this inertia, whereas in the use of jarring devices asheretofore employed the weight and inertia of the entire drilling stemand bit and of the lower half of the jars has had to be overcome as wellas the binding resistance. This is an important feature of my invention,

' because the violence of the shock is therebyV greatly diminished andthe durability and life of the apparatus is correspondingly increased. p

So far as I am aware, I am the first to pro- Ivide a drilling appliancewhich normally strikes as a solid stem but is also capable of operationas a jarring apparatus, and therefore I consider that the constructionherein described may be widely varied without departing from myinvention. My construction may also be made use of in jars as such forjarring either upward or downward, or both, as will be evident.

l claim asmy invention- 1. A drilling appliance comprising a suspendedmember and a tool-carrying member movable longitudinally with respect toeach other and provided with opposed surfaces arranged to limit therelative upward movement of the tool-carrying member, and means normallyholding said surfaces in engagement with each other.

2. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member movable longitudinally with respect to each otherand provided with opposed surfaces arranged to limit said relativemovement in either direction, and means normally holding thetool-carrying member at the limit of its relative upward movement.

3. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member movable longitudinally with respect to each otherand provided with a plurality of'opposed surfaces cooperating in pairsto limit the relative upward movement of the toolcarrying member, andmeans normally hold- -ing said opposed surfaces in engagement with eachother.

4. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member movable longitudinally with respect to each otherand provided with a plurality of opposed surfaces coperating in pairs tolimit said relative movement in either direction, and means normallyholding the tool-carrying member at the limit of itsrelative-upwardmovement.

5. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member movable longitudinally one within the other andprovided with opposed surfaces arranged to limit the relative upwardmovement of the tool-carrying member,and one or more springs locatedbetween the inner and outer members and normally holding said opposedsurfaces in engagement with each other,

6. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member movable longitudinally one within the other andprovided with opposed surfaces arranged to limit the relative movementof said members in either direction, and one or more springs locatedbetween the inner and outer members and normally holding thetool-carrying member at the limit of its relative upward movement.

7. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member IOO IIO

movable longitudinally one within the other and provided with aplurality of opposed surfaces cooperating in pairs to limit the relativeupward movement of the tool-carrying member, and a plurality of springscontained within the outer member and normally holding said opposedsurfaces in engagement with each other.

8. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member movable longitudinally one within the other andprovided with a plurality of opposed surfaces cooperating in pairs tolimit the relative movement oi' said members in either direction, and aplurality of springs located within the outer member and normallyholding the tool-carrying member at the limit of its relative upwardmovement.

9. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member movable longitudinally one within the other, theouter member being provided with inwardly-eXtending annular ledges andthe inner member being provided with annular enlargements arranged toslide longitudinally between said ledges, and one or more springslocated between the inner and outer members and normally holding thetool-carrying member at the limit of its relative upward movement.

10. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member movable longitudinally one within the other andprovided with opposed surfaces arranged to limit said relative movementby their engagement, the outer-member being longitudinally divided toform a two-part shell and the inner member being composed of a series ofsections united end to end, and one or more springs contained withinsaid outer member and normally holding' the tool-carrying member at thelimit of its relative upward movement` 11. A drilling appliancecomprising a suspended member and a tool-carrying memberl movablelongitudinally one within the other, the outer member beinglongitudinallyY divided to form a two-part shell and havinginwardlyprojecting annular ledges, and the inner member being composedof a number of sections united end to end and provided with annularenlargements arranged to slide respectively between a pair of adjacentledges, and a plurality of springs located within the outer mem-l berand normally holding the tool-carrying member at the limit of itsrelative upward movement.

12. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member movable longitudinally one within the other andprovided with opposed surfaces arranged to limit said relative movementby their engagement, the outer member being longitudinally divided toform a two-part shell and 'massi the inner member being composed of aseries of sections united end to end, one or more springs containedwithin said outer member and normally holding the tool-carrying memberat the limit of its relative upward movement, and means for preventingrelative rotational movement of the sections of said inner member.

13. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member movable longitudinally one within the other andprovided with opposed surfaces arranged to limit said relative movementby their engagement, the outer member being longitudinally divided toform a two-part shell and the inner member being composed of a Series ofsections united end to end, and one or more springs contained withinsaid outer member and normally holding the tool-carrying member at thelimit of its relative upward movement, one of said members beinglongitudinally grooved and the other member being provided with ribsarranged to slide in said grooves.

14. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member movable longitudinally one within the other, theouter member being provided with inwardly-extending annular ledges andthe inner member being provided with enlarged portions iitted to slidebetween said ledges, and one or more springs contained within said outermember and normally holding the toolcarrying member at the limit of itsrelative upward movement, said enlarged portions being provided withpassages alfording communication between the separately-inclosed spaceswithin said shell.

15. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member movable longitudinally one within the other, theouter member being provided with inwardly-extending annular ledges andthe inner member being provided with annular enlargements arranged toslide between said ledges, and one or more springs contained within saidouter member and normally holding the tool-carrying member at the limitof its relative upward movement, the inner member being provided withspiral air and oil passages, for the purpose set forth.

16. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-'carrying member movable longitudinally one within the other andprovided with opposed surfaces arranged to limit such relative movementby their engagement, theouter member being longitudinally divided toform a two-part shell and the inner member being composed of a series ofsections united end to end, and one or more springs contained withinsaid outer member and supporting the tool-carrying member.l

17. A drilling appliance comprising a suspended member and atool-carrying member IOO IIO

movable longitudinally one Within the other, l outer member andsupporting the tool-carry- IO the outer member being longitudinallydiing member.

vided to form a two-part shell and having in- In testimony whereofl Ihave hereunto sub- Wardly projecting annular ledges, and theJ scribed myname this 29th day of March, 1904. inner member being composed of anumber of sections united end to end and provided With JOHN H' COMPTON'annular enlargements arranged to slide re- Witnesses: spectively betweena pair of adjacent ledges, E. D. CHADWICK,

and a plurality of springs located Within the J osnPH T. BRENNAN.

